Labor Committee Sues NYC Over Health Insurance Proposals

By Chris Dolmetsch -
Aug 10, 2013

New York City was sued by a group
representing city workers in an effort to block it from pursuing
a request for proposals to change their health benefits.

Deputy Mayor Caswell Holloway said in April that the city
will seek a new provider for its $6 billion health-insurance
plan that would require workers to pay premiums for the first
time, while providing discounts for participating in wellness
programs.

The Municipal Labor Committee, which negotiates health
benefits with city officials on behalf of public employees,
seeks a court order to stop the city from issuing a request for
proposals, or RFP, on the plan without its consent, according to
a complaint filed yesterday New York State Supreme Court in
Manhattan.

“The city’s rush to release the RFP has been a deeply
flawed process,” Municipal Labor Committee Chairman Harry Nespoli said in a statement. “First, the city’s unilateral
action, without including the views of the city workers who
receive those services in the decision-making process, goes
directly against previous agreements. Second, making a $7
billion spending decision for services beginning six months
after the mayor’s last day in office prevents any accountability
for this important decision.”

$400 Million

The proposal, which requires approval by unions, would save
about $400 million a year, Holloway said. Contracts have expired
with all 300,000 city employees, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg has
said any deal must require workers to start paying for health
coverage, a cost Holloway said may rise 32 percent to $8.3
billion by 2018.

The “action by the Municipal Labor Committee suggests that
it had no intention of participating in this process
productively, despite transparency in the development of the RFP
and a role in evaluating the results,” Holloway said yesterday
in an e-mailed statement. “The losers here will be city workers
and retirees, their families, and New York City taxpayers who
foot the bill.”

The mayor is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg
LP, the parent of Bloomberg News. The mayor is in the final year
of his last term, which ends Dec. 31.

The case is Municipal Labor Committee v. City of New York,
652814/2013, New York State Supreme Court, New York County
(Manhattan).

To contact the reporter on this story:
Chris Dolmetsch in New York State Supreme Court at
8969 or cdolmetsch@bloomberg.net